Phil Collinson admits viewers struggle with Thursday Corrie

Coronation Street producer Phil Collinson has admitted that the soaps viewers haven’t got used to watching the Granada series on Thursday evenings.

Phil Collinson, the producer of Coronation Street, has admitted that the soaps viewers have struggled with its switch to Thursday evenings. In July 2009 ITV revamped its schedules and dropped the Wednesday evening episode of Coronation Street – a slot of it had occupied for most of its run. However, Coronation Street was often dropped by ITV in favour of Football coverage in the Wednesday evening slot and was moved to Thursdays where it was less likely to be shunted out of the way.

The overhaul of the schedules also saw two episodes of Emmerdale air on Thursday evenings and the revamped and re-launched The Bill at 9pm – which has now been shunted to a Tuesday evening slot. Ratings for the Thursday episode of Coronation Street haven’t been as high as for the Monday and Friday episodes and often EastEnders rates better than the Granada soap. In an interview with The Guardian the producer has admitted the Thursday evening episode has proved difficult for viewers to get used too.

The show is in really good health and it does good viewing figures. People haven’t got used to Thursdays yet so we need to look at how to make them feel more important – Phil Collinson in The Guardian.

Later this year Coronation Street will celebrate its 50th anniversary and is planning a tram-crash to mark the occasion. The crash has been rumoured to destroy the Kabin and Corner Shop, will feature episodes set in real-time, and could kill off key characters such as Janice Battersby, Jack Duckworth and the Peacock family.

“We’re steaming towards December with five or six really big stories and when Monday hits and the week pans out, the tram crash will have sent off all those stories in completely different directions so that the people who have come to it will feel the need to stay on.” – Collinson in The Guardian

When EastEnders celebrate its 25th anniversary earlier this year it did so with a live episode – something that hasn’t been ruled out for Corrie’s 50th. However, the soap did mark its 40th anniversary in 2000 with a special live episode and The Bill has aired two live episodes in recent years as well.